Knead You To Loaf Me
by ilprincipino
Summary: Modern Day AU. Katniss is a mall cop who visits a local bakery to get yesterday's bagels. There, as she's on a special trip to get a birthday cake for her sister, she encounters a shy young man named Peeta. A fluffy one-shot that may turn into something bigger.


**A _huge _thanks to Iris (finnicko-loves-anniec), Brooke (Silver Medals), and Johanna (turtledoves) for making this project better than it could've ever been without them. In fact, Iris wrote so much I should quote her as co-writer. Anything good about this story is probably her doing. Check out all of their stories!**

**Happy birthday, Genesis. I can't draw, or buy gifts, or write Britanna, but I sure can try to write Everlark fluff!**

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><p>Katniss twirled the flashlight in her hands. Really, she should have handcuffs. That way, at least, she could look a bit like one of the 'sexy cop' costumes in the Halloween store. Right now, she only felt like Mall Cop, and though that was what she undeniably was, it felt far from cute.<p>

She sighed quietly before checking her watch. Only ten more minutes until her shift was over. When the clock struck the end of the hour, she met up with the next shift worker and left work for the shop that she went to every morning to buy the pastries that hadn't sold the day before.

A bell tinkled overhead as Katniss pushed the door open. The warm early morning sun bounced around the white walls and through the large windows of the store, giving the shop a peaceful atmosphere. It was still pretty early in the bakery's workday, so the old pastries weren't out on their separate rack yet. She sat down in one of the cozy couches and glanced towards the counter. The cash register, the granite countertop, the tip jar. The ordinary.

After ten minutes, a rather short boy with ash blonde hair wearing a flour-stained apron came out from behind the back of the building and put some fresh pastries in the glass pastry display case and threw a few bags of bagels onto a rack, humming softly to himself.

He looked rather frazzled and nearly jumped when Katniss stood up and started walking towards him, rather than the bagel rack.

"Good morning," she said, startled at the way he reminded her of a jumpy squirrel.

He adjusted his hair net and mumbled something undecipherable under his breath. Awkwardly, he managed to turn his limbs around and started to get back behind the doors, only to bump into another man's chest.

Katniss cringed for him, but her expression warmed when she recognized the other man. "Mr. Mellark! Good morning!" she chirped, suddenly cheerful. Seeing the bakery's owner always meant that she was one step closer to getting home.

"Ah, you are the true night owl, coming in this early for your dinner! Good morning!" he replied. He patted the shoulder of the young man beside him. "This is my son, Peeta."

Peeta flushed pink and mumbled something that sounded like "excuse me" before scurrying away.

"Forgive him, he's a little shy," Mr. Mellark said with a smile.

"Oh, it's fine," Katniss replied with a wave of her hand. She knew she was more than a bit asocial herself.

She started to walk toward the checkout and reached into her pocket to get out the usual change when Mr. Mellark cleared his throat. "Our price for yesterday's bagels has gone up by five cents as of this morning," he said apologetically. "We're a family-run business and it's hard competing with all the new chain stores."

Katniss nodded and managed to pull out another nickel. "I understand. You will always have my business." On her way out, she made sure to leave a few coins in the tips jar. From the clanging noise they made when they hit the bottom, she knew nobody else had spared a couple cents for Knead You To Loaf Me.

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><p>She returned that weekend to get a cake for her little sister's birthday. Her own attempts at baking had failed miserably, one ending with a puddle of vaguely batter-like substance splattered all over the floor, and the other with the entire apartment complex's smoke alarms going off at 9 PM. No, it was definitely best to leave this to the experts. She stayed up later than usual so she could place a custom order and pick it up by the end of the day. Prim's birthday was tomorrow, and she had procrastinated once again. Well, at least she was good at something, right?<p>

Her entrance was announced by the familiar sound of cheerful bells.

Mr. Mellark, who was hunched over restocking the glass cabinet, looked up at Katniss through the pastry display.

"Just a moment!" he said, dusting off his hands and standing up from his crouched position. "Yesterday's bagels will be out in a few minutes."

"Actually, I'm here today to buy a cake. Do you take special orders?"

Mr. Mellark nodded. "My son usually does that. I'll be back with him in a moment."

He disappeared behind the wooden doors into the place where the magic was done. The person to emerge looked like magic had been worked on Mr. Mellark, instead of dough, turning him twenty years younger.

"A cake order?" Peeta asked.

"Yeah," Katniss said. "A chocolate cake…and do you have mint frosting?"

Peeta hesitated for a few seconds before replying. "No, but it can be done. When do you need the cake?"

Katniss cringed. "It's fine if you don't have it. Vanilla is okay. I need the cake by tomorrow." Peeta recorded this on his pad of paper and nodded for her to continue. "And on the top, I don't know, maybe some purple and pink flowers or something?"

The man smiled, all nervousness gone. "Yeah, we can do that. Since the frosting'll be mint, why don't I make it green? Then I can add stems and leaves and make it look like an entire flower garden is growing out of the cake."

"You can do that?"

Peeta nodded. "Yeah, don't worry. I've done way harder designs before."

"Okay, that sounds great. So, umm, when can I pick it up?" Katniss fought the urge to fidget and play with her braid.

He glanced up at the clock. Katniss smiled when she saw that it had been painted with the bakery's logo. "I'll see you around six or so?"

When their eyes met, she felt her throat go dry. "Yeah," she managed to croak out.

"I look forward to it. It's been nice to meet you… I'm sorry, I don't think I actually know your name."

"Katniss," she said.

The dimples in his cheeks became more pronounced as his smile widened. "It's been very nice to meet you, Katniss. I'll see you in a couple hours."

She hurried from the bakery before she made a fool out of herself. As soon as she got into her car, Katniss put her hand over her chest, where she could feel her heart rapidly beating. _It's just a boy. It's not as though you haven't met a million before_. Yes, Peeta should have been just another boy, but there was something about him that made the baker's son far more. Nobody, not even her on-and-off boyfriend Gale, had ever caused the twisting she now felt in the pit of her stomach or the absolutely stupid grin that now spread across her features.

"Okay, girl, get it together," she muttered under her breath as she put her key into the ignition. As she drove away, she couldn't help but glance back towards the bakery, hoping to find a handsome blond man gazing back at her.

She was surprised at the disappointment she felt when he wasn't there. _He's probably busy making Prim's cake, _she consoled herself.

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><p>Katniss took a nap until six, when she was woken up by her alarm. She woke up with a smile instead of a groan and regrets. She got into the bakery as they were closing shop.<p>

"Hey," Katniss said to Peeta as she approached him.

She was barely registering what she was doing as he smiled proudly and gestured to the cake.

It was a beautiful cake. The sides of the cake were unfrosted. displaying the different layers of chocolate, like layers of soil. A few crumbled cookies were spread on the top of the cake to imitate overturned soil. Fudge roots snaked through the cake and at the top connected to thick, green stems. Different wildflowers of every color extended off the cake and towards the sky as if they were searching for the sun. Leaves spread from underneath the flower petals, ready to catch the rain.

"Sorry, I might've went a little overboard." Peeta said. "I hope it's all right."

"No, don't be _sorry_," Katniss said, marvelling at the beauty of the cake.

Do you want a personalized message on the top of the cake?" Peeta asked.

"Uhh, how about Happy Birthday, Prim."

"P-R-I-M?"

Katniss nodded.

Peeta disappeared behind the doors again. When he came back, it was with a graham cracker and some frosting. In a few seconds, he had made an impromptu garden sign. On it, he wrote the message.

"I'm almost scared to touch this masterpiece," Katniss said.

Peeta beamed. "It was fun."

There was a moment of silence before Peeta came out from behind the counter. "Can I help you get this to your car? It's quite heavy."

"Uh, shouldn't I," Katniss gesticulated towards the cashier "pay?"

Peeta grinned. "Nah. On us."

Katniss breathed in sharply. "Uh, wow. Are you sure?"

"Completely." He snapped a cover onto the cake and hoisted it up. "Could you open the door?"

Katniss was about to protest and ask to carry it herself when Peeta said it before she did. "I thought that it would take two people to carry this monster to your car, and I don't have the keys to open up your car door."

Katniss nodded and obliged. He followed her to her car, and she opened the passenger door. He slid the cake into the seat.

"I don't know if the cake'll make it to your house, so be careful on the turns," he said.

Katniss fidgeted, and this time she couldn't stop herself from clutching her braid. "My sister's having her birthday party tomorrow." She breathed in. _You can't go back now._ "Do you want to come? I mean, thank you for making the cake for us for free and everything -"

Peeta cut her off with a smile and a reply, "I'd love to."

Katniss breathed out. "Okay. See you at three."

"Okay."

Katniss pulled out of the parking lot and had rounded all of the corners before she came to a red stoplight. She was a block away from home now.

She took a few deep breaths, trying to stop blushing and her pulse from getting any higher.

As she slowed to a stop, the cake inched closer to the edge of the seat. Katniss pushed it back with a triumphant smile. The cake had made it. She had tiptoed into her house and put the massive dessert into the fridge when she realized that she had forgotten something.

What good is an invitation if the invitee doesn't know where he's being invited to? She laughed before getting back in her car.


End file.
